Warning hits maker of 'Robot Wars'

Shares in Television Corporation slumped 13 per cent yesterday after the maker of the TV programme Robot Wars warned that profits would be lower than forecast.

The TV production company was forced to issue the alert after the US media company Viacom decided against recommissioning another series of Robot Wars.

Consequently, it said profits for 2002, before both tax and goodwill amortisation, were likely to be lower than current market forecasts of about £5.3m but not less than £4.2m. Shares in the company closed down 19p at 125p.

While the loss of the Viacom deal was partly offset by a sale of the Robot Wars back catalogue to Tech TV, it did not compensate for it entirely.

Jeff Foulser, the chief executive, said: "We had one big deal with Viacom.... although we partly offset that, it [the deal with Tech TV] clearly hasn't given us the return that the original deal did."

In addition, Television Corporation was also hit by delays in signing up two advertiser funded projects. It had been expecting those two projects to be signed before the end of December but both have slipped into the current year.

Mr Foulser insisted the projects had been postponed and that neither project had disappeared completely. "I'm hoping one of them [the projects] will be signed off in the next couple of weeks but we've been negotiating since about August," he said.

Television Corporation also said yesterday the sale of its audio post production facility Pacifica would be completed "in the near future" after signing heads of agreement with a "major US corporation".

The company said that some of the proceeds from the sale of Pacifica, which are to be paid over two years, would be used to settle liabilities. The deal would also allow it to reverse up to £1.5m of the provision made in the accounts at the half-year stage.